Media tests production plan

this document contains the production plans and process for creating media tests. this relates to AG1084, and AG1064 in terms of development and the project process as a whole. 

Equipment needed:

• ·      Mac
• ·      Mbox
• ·      Midi controller
• ·      Instruments
• ·      Microphones (dynamic & Condenser)

Clips being tested – twelve in total, 6 for each film = 6 original clips and 6 edited clips. Thus I have to plan to edit 6 clips. These clips will vary in times, tempo, music and design. Some will feature dialogue some will be silent and some will be musical.

Timescale 1/2 months from January - subject to change. 

Fargo

Clip one – This clip lasts just over thirty seconds and features no dialogue only a black screen with some text on it. The text reads that something perhaps sinister has happened, most probably death. The challenge here is, according to my critical framework sound can be manipulated through music and sound effects that in turn can drive narrative and lead human perception. The plan for this clip is to create a more upbeat musical sequence, and it’s going to based on “Leaning on the everlasting arms” – the main song used in True Grit.

The idea for using this song is not only is it a completely different tone, it also has a different tempo and melody to it. I want to test if yes this clip can lead the perception and work with the visuals in turn hopefully driving the narrative as well from what was on screen.

To do this clip I will record the piano piece into pro tools, but first I’ll set the tempo using a click track. There will only be white noise and the piano playing throughout this track and no sound effects.

As I identified early the tone I wanted to set and identified a track I wanted to use rather than create one, it was a quick process in completing this test – and I can use it to serve as a basic understanding of what I am trying to test as a whole.

It completely contradicts the original as well, which is a bonus.

Clip two – this clip is set outside, it lasts approx. 1:45 seconds. It’s a basic scene where a car travels through the snow set on a blue backdrop. The falling snow and light blue backdrop make it difficult to notice or identify for quite some time what is going on. Throughout the original, the first peiece of music carries through the opening shot of the text. I am deciding to take a different approach by highlighting the sound effects and only writing a musical sequence for the very end of the scene as the car fully appears over the hill.

The idea behind this approach is to test if sound effects alone with silence and ambience silence and drive the narrative and hopefully get participants think try and think what is going on.  The original tells the story quite well in terms of driving the narrative as the musical sequence follows throughout the opening shot to the title comes up.

For this clip, I am going to have to write a musical piece, trying to fit with the original aesthetic; too much of a change could seem confusing for the viewer. Highlighting the sound effects will be challenging. Firstly I am going to make key chapter markers where I think there is key on screen actions. I know the musical sequence will begin when the car comes over the hill however.

I will manipulate some room tones with EQ to create the outside weather sound and try to capture real life outside ambience. This is difficult due to wind issues. I also need to try and recreate a car sound. This will be done through a sound effects library I already have and some sample files I have at my disposal.

Clip three – this clip is a lot busier than the previous two and it contains dialogue. The context to the clip is that two men have kidnapped a person, who is under a rug in the back of the car and making noise. One protagonist gets angry with the victim whilst the other spots a police car in the rear mirrors. Its clear from the body language the two criminals aren’t the best of friends.

The clip climaxes with the police officer being shot in the head by one of the criminals.

The original clips contains orchestral music again, the music is quite serious for what I perceive to be a humorous incident. That is my personal opinion as it is a paradox on life that something like this could occur on a highway.  What I intend to do is make this clip as serious as I can and I Plan to use silence and heightened sound effects once again to achieve this.

The desired effect is to ultimately test if having silence and heightened sound effects that the narrative could be driven with the use of on screen dialogue leading to testing the participants perception of what’s happening within the clip.

This clip will test my skills production wise; I am again taking all the audio out creating my own design. One advantage perhaps is the distinct lack of music, which means I don’t have to compose anything, which in turn could save me time.

For this clip I will have to create the inside of a car tone, and outside of the car when the officer approaches. A lot of clothing movements and perform ADR. I plan to do this with the aid of my flat mate. I plan to loop record the dialogue process to try and capture a few and edit the best ones. All the dialogue will be captured at the same time and a video of this production will be on my blog. I plan to take at least a week to produce this clip as it will take a lot of different types of recording, then mixing as well, then I’ll show James to receive some feedback.

No country for old men

Clip one -  This clip lasts approximately 1:30 seconds and it features a mindless act of violence. NCFM uses silence and ambients’ so well throughout the film, it’s its trademark. This makes this clip so serious and easy to follow. My thoughts are to add music and still use the sound effects but in a more traditional sense.

Yes a crime takes place, but there’s no real context to it – a –what you would assume – criminal appears to attack a police office and walk out of the station. My thought is to add music to this, a specific type of melody to try and influence perception. The clip take place very quickly, by adding a slower piece of music is could change the tone and take away how serious the violence is, this wont be easy and quite a challenge composing wise.

I have to recreate all the sounds as well to make it seem authentic which requires me to create all the dialogue as well; this will once again be done with the aid of my flat mate, who is proving to be an invaluable actor at this stage.  I plan to not use a click track to write the music too as I want the representation to seem authentic and take away from the tempo of the scene – the influence of the perception here is called Temporalization of the image. This is a key area of influencing human perception with moving image.

To create the music, I will try a variety of different synths to try and set the mood and take the tempo of the scene away trying to influence participants’ perception. The sound effects will require a lot of Foley work and calling upon previous sound libraries from past projects.

This clip should take approx. ¾ days over a period of 2 weeks, as I’ll be mixing the other clips as well.

Clip two – This clip lasts approx. 1:20 seconds and once again involves an act of mindless violence. You begin to realize that this man is on a rampage. The test for this clip is similar to the first, however I want to try to add a sense of humor to the scene. Maybe I have a sinister sense of humor finding a man getting shot in the head with a air canister point blank funny, or trying to see the funny aspects in it.

So does adding humour take away from this scene, its important to remember that my project is based around understanding the role of sound design as a whole within these specific films and look at how it’s a carefully thought out process and in doing so it adds to the over all totality of the film. So by putting an upbeat melody over the top will people still be able to follow the scene, will the music distract them and will the end have the same desired effect. The original clip leaves you feeling sorry for the innocent man in the car who gets pulled over, by what he assumes, a police officer, only to be murdered. Having a note at the end of this scene, and have an up beat tempo within it will help influence participants feelings of the scene I think.

This clip will take time to finalize as well, its set outside again and footsteps are important, as it’s a tension builder as the killer approaches the victims’ car. As the scene starts you can hear a scanner to assume it’s a police car with a siren going off as well, all this is parallel to the original. Which I think changing this would not help the narrative of the scene, subtle subtext also helps drive narrative.

The sound effects are quite generic so I hope to again pull from the library I have growing, and create some more through the use of Foley. The music will be the harder part. This will be done using synths again and will take a while before I am happy with the final clip; I plan to showcase this clip and the first Fargo clip as identifying what I am trying to do with my project.

I want to take 3 to 4 days again over the space of a week and a half to work an edit this clip. All timescales are subject to change.

Clip three – this is by far and away the most challenging clip out of all six that I am going to edit, and it is probably my the best scene, one that sound enthusiasts use all the time for different types of tests.

Context for the clip; it last four minutes so it’s by far and away the longest clip. So the hardest thing is to capture participants attention for this long on a clip I am going to edit. There is no dialogue within this scene. The killer is tracking down a man who has “found” a large sum of money from the previous scenes. The original scene is filled with silence; it gives you senses of you are experiencing the moment through the money holders eyes. Is he getting tracked down, is he going to murdered,  will he get his shot in first. The silence seems as if you are in the room with him it is that effective in my opinion. Again another purposely put tool by the sound designer, and it was left untouched by the composer because it would potentially ruin the effect the silence creates.

So the challenge for me is to try and create a piece of music. Firstly I want to see if this is possible and how it correlates with the image, can music work with this. My approach will be to try and compliment the silence, with tempo arranged music and consistent low tones. I still want to the sound effects to be prominent but not over shadow the music arrangement.

This clip will take the better part of 7 days over two weeks to design compose and edit for. I plan to do this clip last as it will take the longest.

As soon as I have completed four clips I want to begin beta testing using questionnaires on people, the questions will be beta form as well. This is to help me develop both the clips and questions to see how successful they are.

I believe the designs of the tests correlate with the critical framework I outline, to determine how valid that framework is, that will be down to the test results.

I believe the test results will show how important the role of sound designer, composer and the relationship with the director is. In turn identifying the importance of sound design as a whole to the totality of film. You cant just place sound anywhere it has to be a carefully thought out process that takes planning and designing and interaction with all creative peers within the film.